The Hope Dealers - Our story

How a Grassroots Movement Sparked a
Regional Shift Toward Recovery

Before it was a documentary, The Hope Dealers began as a room full of people who knew what it meant

to stand at the edge of the abyss—and survive it.

They wore black shirts that read, “Make Recovery the Epidemic.” Seventeen men and women from

different generations, cultures, and backgrounds shared one common bond: lived experience with

addiction and a determination to change what recovery looked like in North Central Washington.

“Not everyone knows how to ask for help, so we are extending our hands for help,” said Karen, whose

quiet confidence reflected the resilience of someone who had faced adversity and come through it.

Karen was part of the first cohort of Recovery Coaches to complete the Recovery Coach Academy offered

through Thriving Together NCW, an organization dedicated to improving health and well-being initiatives

across its four county region. What began as a training quickly revealed itself to be something larger.

“We’re trying to make recovery the epidemic. We’re not trying—we’re doing it,” said Victor, a chapter

leader of the Central Washington Recovery Coalition and fellow Academy participant. This was more

than symbolism. It was a strategic response to a widening gap in the recovery system.

In 2018, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimated that 21.2 million Americans needed

substance use treatment. Only 3.7 million received it.

While medication-assisted treatment, detox services, and inpatient and outpatient programs remain

essential components of recovery, they do not address the full journey. Recovery is long-term, and many

individuals struggle most in the spaces between formal treatment—after discharge, during relapse risk,

or when navigating housing, employment, and mental health care.

Peer recovery support began emerging as a critical complement to traditional services. According to the

Center for Addiction Recovery Training, individuals receiving peer support may experience reduced

relapse rates, fewer emergency service encounters, decreased criminal justice involvement, and

improved engagement in long-term care. Research from the Vermont Recovery Network further

indicates that recovery coaching increases connection to primary care, housing resources, and mental

health services, lowering both individual and community costs.

Recovery coaching works because it is grounded in lived experience.

“My lived experience has created a foundation in which I can stand to assist others on their pathways to

recovery,” said Nokey.

“Recovery Coach Academy is providing me a path to helping people heal,” added Yvonne.

These were not professionals entering the field from the outside. They were people who had navigated

addiction themselves and were choosing to walk alongside others.

The Recovery Coach Academy, led by instructor Jim Leingang of Harmony Recovery Support Services, was

one strategy within Thriving Together NCW’s broader opioid response efforts. Its impact, however,

extended beyond individual certification.

Recovery coaches are peers in long-term recovery who combine lived experience with formal training

and supervision to support others in initiating and sustaining recovery. They help individuals set goals,

navigate complex systems, build accountability, and reconnect with community.

Importantly, the Academy included a training-of-trainers component, enabling graduates to certify future

coaches. Capacity would not remain centralized. It would grow outward through community

relationships.

As coaches began serving in hospitals, courts, housing programs, and grassroots settings, recovery

support became more visible and more accessible. Silence began to give way to conversation, and stigma

began to soften in the presence of real stories and consistent support.

As momentum built, Thriving Together NCW made a decision that would significantly expand the

movement’s reach.

Under the leadership of former Senator Linda Evans Parlette, then serving as Executive Director, the

organization created a new position specifically intended to design innovative, “out of the box” recovery

initiatives. Rather than hiring a traditional candidate with advanced degrees and clinical credentials, they

chose to invest in lived experience.

They offered the position to Joseph "Joey" Hunter.

Joey was a founding member of the Central Washington Recovery Coalition. When he stepped into the

role, he did not have a high school diploma. A few years earlier, he had been homeless on the streets of

Moses Lake and deeply entangled in addiction. From a conventional standpoint, he was an unlikely

choice to design regional programming.


He was hesitant to accept. Why would an established organization entrust such responsibility to

someone with his history?

Thriving Together NCW saw leadership where others might have seen liability. They recognized his

credibility within the recovery community and his deep understanding of the barriers people faced. Their

belief in him became a catalyst.

Joey began building programs centered on dignity, accessibility, and peer leadership—many of which are

featured in The Hope Dealers. He recruited trusted peers from the coalition, expanding opportunities for

others in recovery to step into paid, meaningful roles of service.

The decision to center lived experience at a leadership level signaled a broader cultural shift. Recovery

was no longer simply being supported; it was helping shape the system itself.

The Hope Dealers documents this evolution—from grassroots activation to institutional trust.

The programs featured in the film did not originate in formal boardrooms, but they eventually earned a

place within them. They grew through collaboration between community advocates and regional health

leadership, demonstrating that lived experience can inform not only support services, but strategy.

This story reflects more than program development. It reflects a change in how a region understands

leadership, expertise, and recovery itself.

As recovery coaches stepped into public spaces across North Central Washington, the transformation

became visible. People who once struggled in isolation were now leading conversations, guiding others

through treatment systems, and designing initiatives that expanded access to care. The story was no

longer confined to meetings and training rooms. It was unfolding across the community.

The Hope Dealers emerged from that realization. The film captures a cultural shift—from stigma toward

dignity, from crisis response toward community-led recovery, and from exclusion toward trust in lived

experience.

At its core, the documentary invites a broader question: What becomes possible when recovery

leadership is embraced rather than marginalized?

The movement to #MakeRecoveryTheEpidemic is already underway.

The film invites others to consider how it might continue.